Haileybury hosts biggest ever MUN

More than 500 delegates from countries including Sweden, Dubai, France, the Netherlands and the UK gathered at Haileybury last weekend for the annual Haileybury Model United Nations (HMUN) event and, judging from the feedback organiser Michael Perrins has received, it was a huge success.

"It was a truly wonderful conference," says Michael. "Our pupil key personnel, delegates, security personnel and supporters outdid themselves in hosting a remarkable event and we received much praise from our visitors, who were duly impressed!"

Haileybury pupils Craig Hawes (E), Alistair Hamilton (Th) and Amy Gandon (H) received "Highly Commended Delegate" Awards, while Natalia Biglou (C) and Alex Smith (BFr) have been appointed Joint Secretaries-General for the year 2007-2008.

Among the thanks received were from Dubai, whose leader wrote that "the director of the school wanted to hear about it in person" and was so encouraged by the reports that the delegation may be able to attend a third foreign conference. Tom Vignoles from Felsted said that, from an administrative point of view, he felt it was the best organised conference he had been involved in, while Freddie Grogan from the Royal Masonic School wrote that most of their girls were new to MUN, but they all thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, finding it a challenging and highly stimulating experience. "They were so taken with the whole MUN experience that they want to do another in the Autumn term," Freddie continued.

Many other first-time delegates reiterated that they had found the experience so stimulating that they were hooked. St Margaret’s School in Bushey, Watford, intends to increase their participation in the MUN programme as a result of the Haileybury event, while the delegation from Sweden described it as "a fruitful and exciting weekend".

Congratulations to Michael Perrins and his team of pupils for the most successful HMUN ever!